Book Reviews

How To Get Along with Others

by Swami Bhaskarananda.

Book

RPublished by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - eviews 600 004.2016, paperback, pp.127,Rs.60.- T he subtitle says it all — ‘A Practical Guide to TroubleFree Living’; there is nobody For review in The Vedan a Kesari, publishers need to send us two copies o their latest publication. who could resist such a guide since life today, being more complex and stressful than ever before, requires more guidance than at any other potentially explosive situations and steer our way time in human history. through turbulent waters to a safe and peaceful

The book consists of eleven chapters with haven and emerge relatively unscathed. intriguing titles. As a sample: ‘How to Get Along This book should be made compulsory With Your Spouse’, and ‘How to Get Along With reading for college students who are on the brink Your Family Members’ as well as ‘How to Get of starting real life so that they arm themselves Along With Those who are not Members of Your against disillusionment and unhappiness. Family’. These three chapters by themselves ____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI cover the entire gamut of the people the average human being has to encounter through the course of his/her life. In Search of The Lofty Heights of Advaita

The book is based on ‘Sage Kapila’s by P.K. Sreedharan. method of interpreting human behaviour Published by Munshiram with the help of the gunas’ (Contents page). Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. The initial chapter explains the concept of the Ltd, P.O.Box 5715, 54 Rani three gunas, a part of every human being’s Jhansi Road, New Delhi mental and emotional make-up. Subsequent 110 005. 2019, Hardbound, chapters give detailed descriptions of possible pp.237,Rs.795. behaviours with personal examples, followed by antidotes to conflicts, which lead to peace, understanding and co-operative living with both T his book spans the entire gamut of Hindu religion, philosophy and mysticism from the first verse of family members and outsiders. the Rig Veda to the life and teachings of Swami

The book has been written with a great deal Chinmayananda. Along the way, it first covers the of humour, wisdom and a deep understanding Upanishads, the various orthodox and heterodox of the human predicament and is a real guide schools of Indian philosophy, Brahmasutras, to steer us through the difficult and sticky Bhagavad Gita, Epics, Yogavashishta and situations all of us find ourselves in, from time to Gaudapada, dedicating an entire chapter for time. The virtues of kindness, non-interference, each. Other pre-Sankara teachers like Upavarsha, tolerance, the wisdom of seeing only the good in Bharthruhari, Kumarila and Mandana are touched others while turning a blind eye to the bad, are upon. Then, there is an entire chapter dedicated extolled and made to seem easy to follow. Swami to the life and works of Sankara. Then, postBhaskarananda has shown how, by using our Sankara saints and philosophers like Sureshvara, common sense and fellow-feeling, we can defuse Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha,

Nayanmars and Alvars of Tamilnadu and preceptors of Kashmiri Saivism are treated. The book then deals with the contemporary thoughts starting with Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharishi, Sri Aurobindo, Chattambi Swamikal, Sri Narayana Guru, Swami Sivananda Saraswati and Swami Chinmayananda.

Thus, this book gives a good summary of the development of Advaita from Rig Veda till modern times. There are references given for readers who want to explore further. This book serves as a good introduction or refresher on Advaita and the lineage of saints and teachers. ______________________________GOKULMUTHU N, BENGALURU

From Delusion to Reality

by Swami Gurudasananda. Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004.2014, paperback, pp.86, Rs.45.

Swami Gurudasananda’s book ‘From Delusion to Reality’ is a welcome addition to the many already existing English commentaries on Sri Shankaracharya’s ‘Bhaja Govindam’, one of the most popular hymns in religious literature. Consisting of only 31 verses in all (the first twelve and the last five composed by the Acharya Himself and the remaining fourteen by his disciples), it is simple, direct and exquisitely melodious, containing the distilled wisdom of the Vedantic thoughts.

The book under review is aptly titled ‘From Delusion to Reality’ after its original name ‘Moha Mudgara’ or ‘hammering of delusion’, or striking a deadly blow to our excessive attachment to this ephemeral world in order to awaken us to the Reality.

The book contains the original Sanskrit verses with their English translations and explanatory notes. The Preface gives an account of the genesis, structure, theme, style and the universal appeal of this magnificent composition, which fosters both ‘a sense of detachment and devotion’ even in a lay man. The author’s explanatory notes of the verses are lucid, coherent, rational and direct. Besides, these notes are refreshingly free from jargons, circumlocutions and ambiguities, and thus go straight to the minds and hearts of the readers. The sense of urgency and the ‘plain speaking’ found in the original are maintained in the English explanations too. The seeming harshness of style in both is meant, like a surgeon’s knife, not to hurt but to drastically remove the malady of worldliness ingrained in us. It shakes us out of our self-forgetfulness and makes us aware how foolish we are in wasting our precious time by our vain pursuits of wealth and pleasure —‘kamini kanchana’. The futility and transitory nature of worldly life are vividly and feelingly brought out, making us turn inward to seek eternal bliss and real freedom. There is a genuine sense of compassion, born out of meditation and contemplation, behind many of the explanatory notes of this work, and this cannot but inspire and motivate even a casual reader.

This book is an indispensable practical guide to all seekers of knowledge, especially to the present day youth, who are drifting away, ignorant of life’s purpose and mission and consequently falling an easy prey either to base instincts and sense gratifications or a victim of negative ideologies or of violence, depression and suicide. Books of this type, simple, direct, without embellishments, and appealing to the rational minds and feeling hearts of the youth, will not only interest but also inspire them and drive them to seek the higher purposes of life; and in the process the youth will become good themselves and do good to others. The simple, but suggestive picture on the cover page of the book enhances the beauty and significance of the book

I express my sincere gratitude to Swami Gurudasanandaji for his ‘labour of love’. _________________________ PROF. S.RADHAKRISHNAN, KERALA

Sattvika Shraddha

SWAMI SATYAPRIYANANDA

Shraddha is a complex term which signifies गुरुपदिष्टवेदान्तवाक्येषु विश्वा सः, ‘faith in the words of the guru and scriptures’ 1 and सद्भिर्यय ा वस्तूपलभ्यत े, ‘by which the Truth is comprehended’. 2 It is simply translated into English as ‘faith’ for want of a better word.

The Bhagavad-Gita states that “the faith of each person is according to his constitution. ‘A person is made up of one’s faith: one verily is what one’s faith is.’” 3 This faith can be of three types: sattvika, rajasika, and tamasika. Amongst these three types, people with the sattvika faith are the best: 1) they worship gods alone, 2) they take foods that augment life, energy, strength, health, happiness and joy, and which are savoury, oleaginous, nourishing and agreeable, 3) they perform sacrifice according to scriptural injunctions desiring no fruit and fixing their minds on sacrifice for its own sake, 4) they perform physical, mental and verbal austerity with supreme faith and a concentrated mind desiring no fruit, 5) they offer gifts in a fit place and time, and to a worthy person who will do no service in return.

Such a sattvik person feels very irritated in the presence of one who acts without sattivka faith. His shraddha then flares up and he speaks out without any reservation or fear. We see this in the life of Nachiketa as narrated in the Katha Upanishad. Both the father and the son were gifted with this quality of faith and it is no wonder that the father decided to perform

the Vishvajit sacrifice in which everything is given away. But somehow the father, despite being the son of one who was famed for giving food to others, gave away all his wealth but acted in a manner contrary to the dictates of Shastras by giving away cows that had drunk water and eaten grass for good, whose milk had been milked for the last time, and which had lost their reproductive capacity. This kind of gift is a burden to the receiver and it was not the proper thing to do. This sight irritated the mind of Nachiketa and his inherent shraddha spoke out daringly these words of caution: “Father dear, he goes to the world of the joyless who offers gifts such as these.” He expected his father to make amends for his wrong gifts.

Seeing his father not responding, Nachiketa thought to himself, “There must be some way of compensation which will make my father escape the suffering in hell.” So he thought that his father should give him away. Nachiketa therefore asked his father thrice, “To whom will you offer me?” Irritated at his importunity, the father out of anger said, “To Yama, the God of Death, I offer you!”

This is a beautiful situation in which the son and the father reacted differently! The son thought to himself, “When it comes to offering service, I am usually of the foremost type, sometimes I am of the second category, but never of the third type.” The foremost offer service without being asked to do something; the second category offer service when asked

to do so; and the third category do not offer service even when asked to do a favour. That Nachiketa did not feel the need to go to Yama on his own indicated to him that in this case he was not acting like the foremost but of the second category because had to be told by his father to do so. The thought that occupied Nachiketa’s mind was, “What is Yama in need of which I am to fulfil? Maybe my father said so out of anger and yet I must obey him! Otherwise his words will become untrue.” Truth cannot be given up for anything. What a wonderful ideal!

On the other hand, the father was regretting, “What have I uttered out of momentary anger? Which father ever sent his own son to the abode of the King of Death? Alas, what am I to do?”

The son, understanding his father’s dilemma spoke these eye-opening words: “Consider our family tradition which is adherence to truth under all circumstances. None can escape the jaws of Death, my father, and one is born like corn and dies likewise. Life is but momentary. This is all a matter of the cycle of birth and death, one succeeding the other. There is therefore no purpose served by going back on one’s words for the foolish attempt of trying to postpone my death.”

Saying so, Nachiketa went to the abode of Death, and as Yama was not at home, waited for three days and three nights. The thought, “I must meet Yama and ascertain what his assignment to me is going to be,” kept him waiting without food or drink all this while. What a tenacity of purpose! Yama came after his sojourn, and coming to know of the visitor’s one-pointed purpose of meeting him, pacified him by offering him three boons for the three days and nights he had been without food and drink. This dimension of Yama must be borne in mind by today’s administrators!

What was Nachiketa to ask by way of three boons? It was an extempore offer! He had three goals before him: 1) to see that his father is pacified and does not fear to see him as if he were a ghost, on his returning from the abode of Death, 2) that he must seek the knowledge of that sacrifice which takes the performer to heaven, thereby doing good to all humanity, and 3) the dearest, profoundest and most beneficial of all pursuits: the knowledge of one’s true nature—what happens to one after death, does he continue to exist or not?

The first of the three boons was easy to fulfil and Yama complied readily. The second was a complicated and elaborate description of a ritual which Nachiketa heard just once and repeated verbatim. What a prodigious memory Nachiketa exhibited! For this he earned a bonus boon as well that the sacrifice would be named after him! The third was a grand secret revealed to none but the competent. Was Nachiketa competent? That was to be ascertained first. He was tempted and tested with 1) outright discouragement, for being but a young boy he would not be able to comprehend this difficult to grasp truth and so it would mean that a boon was just wasted, 2) that there are much nicer things to seek for from one who is capable of giving anything and everything to a sincere seeker, which Nachiketa being just a young lad, Yama proceeded to outline: “Ask for sons and grandsons that will be centenarians, ask for human beings, animals, elephants, horses and wealth, as well as a vast expanse of the earth to rule over. Ask for yourself a long life to enjoy all these. Or, if you have any other better things to ask for, ask all that and I shall give you. Ask for all those desirable things which are difficult to get such as women with chariots and musical instruments such are not to be had by mortals. They will provide you with amusements.” Like

(Continued on page 49...)

Creation of the Phenomenal World from Divine Ideas in Indian and Western Thought

GOPAL STAVIG

There is agreement among Indian and Western religious philosophers that the universe is created out of the thoughts of Brahman-God, which are mental forms within the Divine Mind. Through the command of the omnipotent Divine Will, these ideas become operational creating and modifying the universe. Consequently, the Divine intellect has omniscient epistemological understanding of their workings within the universe. Thoughts in the Divine Mind not only create physical objects, but also the principles of reason, laws of logic and mathematics, and values such as goodness that constitute the intrinsic and extrinsic structure and framework of existence. Divine ideas are both the formal and material cause of the world.

This article presents these ideas supported by quotations from Swami Vivekananda and Swami Abhedananda, and Westerners like Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Bishop George Berkeley.

In di a n a n d We ste rn re l i g i o u s creation proceeded out of the Vedas, Swami philosophers agree that the universe is Vivekananda (1863-1902) stated, “Veda is of created out of exemplary ideas or the nature of Shabda or of idea. It is but the sum forms, the archetypes of all things that exist in total of ideas. Shabda, according to the old the Divine Mind. These ideas are the thoughts Vedic meaning of the term, is the subtle idea, of Brahman-God, which are mental forms which reveals itself by taking the gross form within the Divine Intelligence, out of which the later on. So owing to the dissolution of the universe is made. The Divine Intellect generates creation, the subtle seeds of the future creation ideas and has omniscient epistemological become involved in the Veda. Accordingly, in the understanding (and feeling) of their workings Puranas you find that during the first Divine within the universe. The Mind changes into Will Incarnation, the Minavatara, the Veda is first and through the mediation and command of the made manifest. The Vedas having been first omnipotent Divine Will, these exemplary ideas revealed in this Incarnation, the other creative become operational creating and modifying the manifestations followed. Or in other words, all creation. Power and knowledge are interrelated the created objects began to take concrete since Brahman-God produces everything that shape out of the Shabdas or ideas in the Veda. exists according to some mental form. For in Shabda or idea, all gross objects have their subtle forms. Creation had proceeded in The Indian Religious Philosophers the same way in all previous cycles or Kalpas....

In support of Sayana’s (1320-87, a Supposing this jug breaks into pieces; does the renowned Rig Vedic commentator) idea that idea of a jug become null and void? No.

Because, the jug is the gross effect, while the idea, ‘jug,’ is the subtle state of the Shabda-state of the jug. In the same way, the Shabda-state of every object is its subtle state, and the things we see, hear, touch, or perceive in any manner are the gross manifestations of entities in the subtle or Shabda state. Just as we may speak of the effect and its cause. Even when the whole creation is annihilated, the Shabda, as the consciousness of the universe or the subtle reality of all concrete things, exists in Brahman as the cause. At the point of creative manifestation, this sum total of causal entities vibrates into activity, as it were, and as being the sonant, material substance of it all, the eternal, primal sound of ‘Om’ continues to come out of Itself. And then from the causal totality comes out first the subtle image or Shabdaform of each particular thing and then its gross manifestation. Now that causal Shabda, or wordconsciousness, is Brahman, and it is the Veda.” 1

F o l l o w i n g S w a m i A b h e d a n a n d a ’ s ( 1 8 6 6 - 1 9 3 9 ) conception, “A painter first idealizes in his mind a design of something, and then projects the mental design in the material form. Similarly, God thinks of the manifold world in His Cosmic Mind and then gives them the material form…. He projects the images of the manifold world outside from within.” 2 Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE-50 CE) “meant by the Logos the ideal creation which existed in the Divine Mind before the actual creation. For instance, before the creation of light God said, ‘Let there be light.’ These words, however, were merely an audible expression of the thought or idea of light that existed in the Divine Mind: the creation of the external light was therefore, nothing but the projection or expression of the idea or thought of light in the Divine Mind.” 3 “After the dissolution of the universe, the universe with its objects remains in thoughtform in the Cosmic Mind, or the Divine Energy or Prakriti. Plato calls the thought-forms an Idea or Eternal Type, the Christian theologians call it the Logos or Word, and the Indian grammarians call it Sphota or the immortal Word or Sound.” 4

The Western Religious Philosophers

Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE - 50 CE) the first person to interpret Hebrew Biblical (Old Testament) ideas from the standpoint of Greek philosophy, reasoned out that when the creation process began, God generated the Intelligible (Divine) world o f i d e a l i n c o r p o r e a l patterns or forms from His e t e r n a l i d e a s . The transcendent God does not directly interact with the world as its creator, but through the operation of the Logos. “When he [God] willed to create this visible world, he first formed the

Intelligible [Divine] world, so that he might employ a pattern completely Godlike and incorporeal for the production of the corporeal world.... he put together the Intelligible world, and, using that as a model, he also brought to completion the sensible world. As, then, the city prefigured in the architect’s mind held no place externally but was stamped in the soul of the artisan, so too the Intelligible world could have no other location than the Divine Logos … this entire sensible world since it is greater than the human image, is a copy of the Divine image, it is clear that the archetypal seal, which we declare to be the Intelligible world would be the very Logos [Word] of God.” 5 “God’s shadow is his Logos, which he used as an instrument and thus created the world. This

shadow and representation, as it were, is in turn the archetype of other things.” “Every man in respect of his mind is intimately related to the Divine Logos, being an imprint or fragment or effulgence of that blessed nature.” 6 Philo theorized that the Divine Logos is the firstbegotten Son of the uncreated Father, the shadow of the one Supreme Reality, the second God, the mediator between God and the world. The Logos encompasses the Word, reason, and power of God. It is the Intelligible world comprising both the objective Divine Mind and Its subjective ideas, the pattern of all creation, the archetype of human reason. 7 He believed the two creation stories found in Genesis are not contradictory, since one describes the creation of the Intelligible (Divine) world and the other the corporeal world.

Frederick Copleston, S.J. (1907-94) the British Jesuit explains Augustine’s (354-430), the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, religious philosophy this way, “God did indeed create all things together in the beginning … He created invisibly, latently, potentially, in germ, in their rationes seminales [seminal reasons or ideas]. In this way God created in the beginning all the vegetation of the earth before it was actually growing on the earth, and even man himself…. From all eternity God knew all things which he was to make: He does not know them because He has made them, but rather the other way around: God first knew the things of creation though they came into being only in time. The species of created things have their ideas or rationes in God, and God from all eternity saw in Himself, as possible reflections of Himself, the things which he could create and would create. He knew them before creation as they are in Him, as Exemplar, but He made them as they exist, i.e., as external and finite reflections of His Divine Essence [Nature]…. Contemplating His own essence from eternity God sees in Himself all possible limited essences, the finite reflections of His infinite perfection, so that the essences or rationes of things are present in the Divine Mind from all eternity as the Divine ideas, though, in view of Augustine’s teachings on the Divine simplicity previously mentioned, this should not be taken to mean that they are ‘accidents’ in God, ideas which are ontologically distinct from His essence…. The corollary of this is that creatures have ontological truth in so far as they embody or exemplify the model in the Divine Being, and that God Himself is the standard of truth.” These ideas by which the world was created are contained in the Word of God, the second member of the Trinity. The Word contains the intelligible pattern of all things that are capable of being actualized. 8

As stated by Thomas Aquinas (1225-74), exemplars (or exemplar forms) are “the likeness of which something is made.” These ideas in the Divine Mind are superior to the determinate forms they exemplify. For example, air participates in the light of the sun, but it does not receive that light with the same brightness that is in the sun. Exemplars produce both the form and the matter of individual things. Although these ideas are eternal, everything that can come to be or perish is formed according to them. Exemplars as causes are both thought out by the Divine Intellect and ordered by the Divine Will to produce something. Divine Ideas as exemplar is an extrinsic formal cause and not part of the thing that it exemplifies. Yet, they cause the intrinsic form in created things. These formal causes entail both efficient and final causality as well. 9

These Divine exemplars are productive of both form and material substance. This is why the Indian thinkers unlike the Westerners consider Brahman-God to be both the formal and material cause of the world.

Aquinas (as did Maximus the Confessor, Johannes Scotus Erigena, and Anselm of Canterbury) taught that we have eternally preexisted in the Mind of God. A “house exists in

the understanding of the architect before it was brought into actuality.... the things made by God have pre-existed in the Word of God from e te r n i t y, i m m a te r i a l ly, w i t h o u t a ny composition.” 10 “Natural things have a truer being, absolutely in the Divine Mind than in themselves, because in that Mind they have an uncreated being, but in themselves a created being.” 11 “Although creatures have not existed from eternity, except in God, yet because they have been in Him from eternity, God has known them eternally in their proper natures, and for that reason has loved them.” 12 God “is the First Being, and all other beings pre-exist in Him as their First Cause, it follows that they exist intelligibly in Him, after the mode of His own nature.” 13 Does this not mean that the idea of “creation out of nothing” (creatio ex nihilo) must be qualified, since the universe eternally pre-existed in the mind of God. On this subject Erigena (c. 810-77) wrote, “I understand the substance of the whole man to be nothing else but the concept of him in the Mind of his Artificer, Who knew all things in Himself before they were made; and that very knowledge is the true and only substance of the things known, since it is in that knowledge that they are most perfectly created and eternally and immutably subsist.” 14

The Irish Protestant philosopher Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753) wrote, “To be is to be perceived.” He suggested that the world exists because it is continually perceived by an incorporeal eternal Spirit (God). Berkeley states, “The real tree existing without his mind is truly known and comprehended by (that is exists in) the infinite mind of God.” “When I deny sensible things an existence out of the mind, I do not mean my mind in particular, but all minds. Now it is plain they have an existence exterior to my mind, since I find them by experience to be independent of it. There is therefore some other mind wherein they exist, during the intervals between the times of my perceiving them…. it necessarily follows there is an omnipresent eternal Mind.” “The Divine idea, therefore, of a tree I suppose (a tree in the Divine Mind), must be the original or archetype of ours, and ours a copy or image of His (our ideas are images of His, in the same sense as our souls are images of Him) of which there may be several, in several created minds, like several pictures of the same original to which they are all to be referred.” 15

Other Considerations

Thoughts in the Divine Mind not only create physical objects, but also abstract entities such as the principles of reason, laws of logic and mathematics, numbers, values such as goodness, etc. Brahman-God is responsible for the very intrinsic and extrinsic structure and framework of existence. This is because according to the Divine attribute of aseity (selfexistent, uncaused), Brahman-God cannot be limited, determined, constrained, or compelled by any entity independent of or apart from It. Physical and abstract entities depend on Brahman-God for their existence, but It does not depend on them.

If the universe proceeds out of the Divine Mind, this implies that metaphysical creation and relations are also logical creation and relations. We find this idea in the Neo-Platonic Realism creation theory of Johannes Scotus Erigena. The universal (the class-concept or logical genus) is the original reality that produces the particulars (the species and ultimately the individual) taking on definite form. The universals of the Divine Mind are determining substances that through logical subordination become production and inclusion of the particular by the general. Logical partition and determination transform into a causal process by means of which the universal takes on form that unfolds in the

particulars. Deity the most universal Being produces out of Its ideas all things. Following (hereafter CW) (1962), VI, pp. 496-98: II, p. 239.

Abhedananda. 1970, pp. 158-59. p. 180.

Winston 1981, pp. 99-100; Philo, ed. F. H. Colson and

G. H. Whitaker (1929, 1991), I, pp. 15-21. vols, 1985, Vol. II, pp. 76-77, 72-73.

Gregory T. Doolan, 2008, pp. 1-5, 156-61, 195-99. Nachiketa, today’s youth are faced with this mind-boggling scenario and fall a victim because they are unable to differentiate between the preferable and the pleasurable. Everything that titillates the senses is pleasurable, short-lived, and people madly run after these. Preferable is that which in the long run proves to be beneficial. Nachiketa was different from the common run of youth, for he brushed away all these temptations with just a few simple observations: 1) these are all ephemeral, 2) they waste away the vigour of the senses, 3) life without exception is short indeed. “So let all these enjoyments be with you! As you, Yama, said, this Atman is not well comprehended unless taught by a knowing instructor like you. There is no boon equal to this either. So, I want this knowledge of the Atman only.” Why? “This knowledge of the Self is not available for the mere hearing to many, and many do not this system the unfolding process proceeds in

1)

2)

3)

4) 5)

6) 7) 8)

9)

References

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Thoughts on Yoga, Upanishads and Gita. Swami Divine Heritage of Man. Swami Abhedananda. 1947, Thoughts on Yoga, Upanishads and Gita. p. 145. Philo of Alexandria [hereafter Philo]. Trans. David Philo, pp. 101, 143-44. Philo, pp. 9, 26, 36, 172, 217. A History of Philosophy. Frederick Copleston, S.J., 9 Aquinas on the Divine Ideas as Exemplar Causes. the graded scale of logical universality. 16 10) Summa Contra Gentiles [hereafter SCG]. St. Thomas

Aquinas. Ed. Vernon Bourke 5 vols, 1975, IV, 13. 11) Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Summa

Theologica [hereafter ST], tr. Anton Pegis (2 vols.;

New York: Random House, 1945), ST, I, 18:4. 12) ST, I, 20.2. 13) ST, I, 105.3. 14) Periphyseon. Johannes Scotus Erigena. I-IV, Ed. I. P.

Sheldon-Williams, 1981, IV, p. 65. 15) Idea and Ontology. Marc Hight, 2008, pp. 181, 186; cf. pp. 180, 205, 209-10. 16) A History of Philosophy. W. Windelband, 1926, pp. 289-91. Windelband presents this idea in a pantheistic form, but it can also be expressed nonpantheistically.

Sattvika Shraddha

(Continued from page 44...) understand even while hearing, for it is not textual knowledge like what one gets in classrooms; it is experiential, actual and full of bliss, taking one out of the cycle of repeated births and deaths, to the realisation of Truth.”

The expounder, like Yama, is wonderful; the receiver like Nachiketa is equally wonderful; and it is all the more wonderful when one knows experientially the Self by being taught by an adept. So, the message to young men and women is, ‘look before you leap’, for if you ‘leap and then look’ you are likely to regret all your life. The choice is yours to make. Nachiketa, having passed the test creditably was taught the secret knowledge of Truth—the Permanent in the midst of things evanescent, the Consciousness in those endowed with consciousness, the One behind the many. This exposition forms the major part of this excellent Upanishad.

Spiritual Journey

N GOKULMUTHU

Spiritual life is a journey of discovering our true nature and our true relationship with the manifest world. Here is a short and simple description of the different stages of this journey.

Initially, you see the world as an and all its living beings. You see the hand of God insentient object. You see the other in every situation in life. There are only two living beings as competitors in your entities in existence – you and God. Whole life pursuit of happiness in life, which you wrongly is a beautiful play between you and God. You believe to come from objects and situations. You collaborate with God. This gives you a new blame other people and situations for your reason to lead a life of integrity, compassion s h o r t c o m i n g s . Yo u and utility. You keep question the merit of a s k i n g , “ H ow c a n I leading a life of integrity and compassion. You keep Stages in Spiritual Journey contribute to the world and the living beings?” You asking, “What is in it for 1) What is in it for me? don’t expect anything in me?” You want all the best 2) Give and take return. in the world with as 3) How can I contribute to the In the fourth level of minimal contribution from you. In the second level, world and the living beings? 4) I am the Witness understanding, you realise that it is God who plays your role too. You are a you understand that m e r e w i t n e s s t o everything that happens everything that happens. in your life is the result of what you have done The whole world, including your own life, is a in the past. You don’t see anyone as a grand show put up by God for you to see, enjoy, competitor or as the cause of your happiness or learn, develop detachment and realise your sorrow. You understand that your destiny is in eternal intrinsic freedom. your own hands only. No one can change what In the final level, your identity merges you deserve. You compete with yourself. This into pure Consciousness. enables you to lead a life of integrity, Thus, in your path to freedom, God is your compassion and utility to the world. You have a eternal companion. “Give and take” relationship with the world and You can compare the above description other living beings. with your own faith and conviction to evaluate

In the third level of understanding, you at which level you are in. Based on that, you can accept that it is God who has become the world strive to move to the next level.